As he related it, my husband Bryan Symons' career in community and housing activism began with his arrest for throwing a hat at a policeman. It was the late 1960s; Bryan was doing an MA in African studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, and was a pioneer of the squatters' movement. Raising awareness, and helping people improve their lives, mattered to Bryan, who has died of cancer, aged 61.

After his master's, in 1968 he set up residents' associations on problem estates in St Albans, Hertfordshire. From 1976 he worked with the Federation of Tenants' Associations, which developed into the Organisation of London Housing Estates. Helping people to organise collectively led him to write several articles and in 1983 he was co-author of Principles and Practices of Community Work in a British Town.

Bryan was born in Hampstead, north London, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's grammar school in Barnet. His activism began while he was reading politics, philosophy and economics at Keble College, Oxford. In 1973 he took an MSc in social and community work at the LSE. Then, from 1977 to 1984, he ran the Council for Voluntary Service in Islington.

In 1984 he became director of Alone in London, working with young, single, homeless people and in 1989, chief executive of St Martin of Tours. This housing association caters for tenants who need a more supportive style of housing management. After retiring from St Martin's in 2004, he undertook consultancy work at Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association.

Bryan was held in great affection by his colleagues. They remember his humour, incisiveness and sense of fairness - which was reflected in his wider beliefs about society.